


Patience is a Virtue

by IgnobleBard



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Canon - TV, Drama, Gen, SHIELD, Yuletide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 12:47:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1094034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IgnobleBard/pseuds/IgnobleBard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Skye and Grant get a special assignment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Patience is a Virtue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [psalmoflife](https://archiveofourown.org/users/psalmoflife/gifts).



She heard a barely perceptible footstep and closed the laptop quickly, but it was too late. He was already standing beside her. _Looming_ , actually, though he tended to do that even when she wasn’t sitting down.

“I was just… uh… checking my email,” she tried for a disarming smile but it came out a cross between a rictus and a wince.

“Anything interesting from Rising Tide today?”

“Just the weekly newsletter,” she joked. His stony expression remained unchanged. She sighed. “Look, you know I’m not _spying_ for them. Anymore. Per se. But just because I’ve drunk the Kool Aid – she held up her hand and flashed the bracelet they’d tagged her with - doesn’t mean I don’t still think there are things the public has a right to know.”

He said nothing, just pierced her with his patented man-in-black stare.

“Not that they’ll be hearing it from me,” she hurried on quickly. “Nope, I’ve turned that corner. I like this gig. I’m not going to do anything to screw it up.”

“Glad to hear it,” Grant said.

“Good. Glad to say it,” Skye replied.

“Come on, Coulson has something for us.” 

He turned and strode away and she followed dutifully.

When they arrived Coulson was leaning on his desk with his arms crossed. Grant closed the door when they came in, which made Skye wonder just how sensitive this mission was.

“This one is highly sensitive,” Coulson said, as though reading her mind. She hated when he did that.

“So what is it?” Ward asked. Always straight to the point.

“We have a line on a possible gifted, but there’s a… complication.”

“Technological? Biological? Chemical?” Ward guessed.

“Pedological.”

“Excuse me?” Skye was truly confused now.

“The gifted is a child, and we don’t know exactly where she is.”

“Then what do you want us to do?” Ward said. “It’s hard to run a mission when you don’t know who you’re looking for or where you’re going.”

“That’s where she comes in,” Coulson said, giving Skye a wry smile.

****

“A foster home runaway… maybe,” Skye said, typing rapidly, “In the system since she was three, turned ten last month. The first foster home lost her for a week. The string of places she lived subsequent to that reported they could never keep up with her whereabouts. She would just disappear and reappear at random. At first the social workers thought the families were negligent but as the reports started to pile up they got suspicious. They even put cameras in her rooms some of the places she lived, but they never caught anything. She would be lying in her bed and then the camera would give a little flicker and she’d be gone. Sometimes she would even come back in the door and lie down again. Weird.”

“Maybe she gives off some sort of… electrical impulse that causes the cameras to jam,” Ward said thoughtfully.

“Maybe, but the time stamps on the videos contradict that. They aren’t jammed for a long time, it’s just a second or less, she disappears that fast.”

“So maybe it’s not the cameras, maybe she really is disappearing.”

“You know what Fitz/Simmons would say to that.” Skye grinned and Ward nodded in reply.

“Probably one of the reasons Coulson hasn’t filled them in yet. He wants us to track her down and bring her in so we can see what we’re dealing with here. Assuming she hasn’t run into harm, in which case he wants us to rescue her and bring her in. Do you think you can find her?”

“Hard to say. If she can disappear and doesn’t _want_ to be found…”

“Just do your best.”

****

A few days later, Skye was on the computer again but this time when Ward came in she drew his attention to the screen. “I think I might have found something. This kid is practically off the grid, no real friends, no online accounts except for an email she uses for school assignments. But here is an essay she wrote last year about her favorite places.”

“Holleneck Park?”

“Right. It’s in LA.”

“And you think we might find her there?”

“It’s worth a shot… isn’t it? Anyway, it’s all I’ve got.”

“It seems to be our only lead so I guess we have to follow it. It seems like a longshot though.” Grant looked skeptical.

“Sometimes you just have to play the odds.”

Grant gave her a little smile. “I’m not sure that’s the best thing you could have learned from your training but it’s often the truth.”

“How are we going to go off on our own? Won’t the others have questions?” Skye asked.

“Coulson is taking the bus in for maintenance. Everyone gets forty-eight hours leave.”

“That doesn’t give us much time.” Skye bit her lip.

“If we don’t find her, Coulson has a back-up plan.”

“Which is?”

“Sorry, need to know basis.”

Skye shot him a look of frustration. “Working as a team is easier when _all_ the team members are on the same page, don’t you think?”

“It’s exactly what I think. I also think teamwork is easier when the team members can trust each other.”

“Look, how long are you going to make me pay for one little…?” Grant raised an eyebrow. “Ok, one rather huge but totally misunderstood mistake.”

“You betrayed us, Skye, and since I’m responsible for your actions you betrayed me and your training. I want to trust you but…”

“I know, I know, it will take time. But since we’re working together on this maybe you could speed the process up slightly.”

“Let’s just see how the search goes.”

****

Skye and Grant were in communication via earpieces as they walked around the park. They had split up to cover more ground. Skye was certain she had spotted the girl near the lake, but it was only a glimpse and the girl was gone. She continued through the park when she suddenly spotted her again on a bench a few yards ahead. Walking quickly, she was closing the distance between her and the girl when the girl disappeared right before her eyes.

Playing a hunch, Skye went to the bench and sat down on the opposite end of where the girl was sitting.

“Nice day, isn’t it?” she said to the empty air next to her.

She heard a little gasp and the girl was there. 

“You can see me?” the girl asked with wide eyes.

Even looking right at her, the youngster was so average looking, so unremarkable, that Skye would probably not have given her a second look if she hadn’t been looking for her. About four foot six, skinny, mousy brown hair, light brown eyes. 

“For the moment,” Skye said. “But don’t be afraid, I’m one of the good guys.”

“That’s what everyone says, but no one ever helps me. They punish me for running away, when they’re not ignoring me or asking the social workers to place me somewhere else. It’s not my fault. I don’t know why I do this.” She disappeared again and Skye was afraid she might run away, so she spoke quickly.

“No, it’s not your fault, honey. And the people I work with know that. They know there are people like you who can do amazing things. Sometimes they can control it and sometimes they can’t. Can you disappear when you want?”

Fortunately she had the girl’s attention and she popped into focus again. “Sometimes, but not always. It seems to happen most when I’m afraid or upset.”

Skye put her hand on the bench between them. “I can help you,” she said. “At least I work with people who can. Would you be willing to come with me?”

“Who do you work with?” the girl asked suspiciously.

“Scientists, some of them are scientists. There are other people like you out there. I’ve seen them and we have helped those people. I know we can help you.”

She smiled and after a moment’s hesitation the girl smiled back. She laid her hand on Skye’s.

****

“We can’t help her,” Grant said. “What we need to do is take her in and let Fitz/Simmons have a look at her.”

“We can’t take her on the bus and lock her in some holding cell. Don’t you see? She doesn’t trust anyone. She feels like a freak and she’s scared. I told her we would help.”

“Then you lied. What can we do for her? We don’t know where her power comes from or the extent of it. If someone else gets to her, she could walk in anywhere in the world carrying a bomb or wired for sound. She could be the most valuable spy property on the planet. If someone were to take her and train her like Natasha Romanoff she could be a huge national security threat.”

“Maybe. Someday. Right now she’s just a scared little girl and we’re the ones who got to her first. We have to start by helping her. Then if she wants to come on the bus and be a guinea pig she can. I just want to make sure she has a choice.”

“We don’t always get a choice in the things that happen to us…” Ward began. He stopped when he saw Skye’s expression. “Look, we have to be back on the bus tomorrow.”

“Let’s just see what we can do tonight.”

****

Skye had coaxed the girl into coming with her but one look at Ward and she had disappeared again. Skye was glad the girl was still holding her hand, but it was difficult not to strengthen her grip when the girl vanished. She was so afraid of losing her.

“This is Agent Ward and he wants to help you too,” Skye said.

“He doesn’t look like he wants to help,” a disembodied voice at her side said.

Grant tried to look reassuring but he was so bad at it. “He always looks like that,” Skye assured her, "but he’s a good guy, deep down.”

Ward tried a smile and then gave up. “Tell me a little bit about this trick you can do,” he said.

“It’s not a trick,” the girl said crossly. “And I don’t do it, it just happens.”

“Good start,” Skye whispered. She addressed the girl. “I think what he means, Lola, is how often does this happen and have you told anyone?”

“I tried in my first foster home but my foster parents didn’t believe me. They punished me for lying and running away so I never said anything again. I try to control it but sometimes I just can’t.” She started to tear up and Ward sighed.

“This is getting us nowhere,” he said.

“Just have a little patience,” Skye replied. “So, when you disappear, can you see yourself?” she asked the girl.

“Yes.”

“Do you remember your mother?”

“Not very well. I was three when they took me away from her. I never saw her again.”

“Could be something there,” Skye said to Ward.

"Possibly. What do you remember about her?" Ward asked.

"Mostly the way she smelled, like the way the air smells after lightning."

"Do you remember what she looked like?"

"No." Lola started to tear up again.

"That's okay, honey." Skye pressed on. "Was there ever a time when you couldn’t…?”

“No. I’ve done it as long as I can remember.”

“Do you feel anything strange or different when it happens?”

“It makes my eyes hurt.”

“We really need to get her to the bus,” Ward said.

“As much as I hate to admit it, you're right.” Skye said reluctantly. “Will you come with us?” Skye asked her. “We have some people, some of the scientists I told you about, that will check you out to see if they can figure out how all this works. But this is totally your decision. We won’t make you go if you don’t want to.” She gave Ward a warning glance.

“Will you stay with me?” Lola asked.

“The whole time,” Skye said. She gave the girl a hug.

****

The next few days were exhausting. Both Fitz and Simmons were so excited they talked nonstop in their geek speak, making Lola disappear with alarming frequency, which made them even more excited. Skye kept asking them to slow down and explain so she could translate to help put the girl at ease. It made Lola giggle when Skye would repeat a ten dollar word and get it wrong, and Skye would end up laughing along with her. Despite her bravery in front of the girl, Skye could not help but worry about her, about her welfare and what would happen to her.

She kept her promise and stayed with the girl through all the poking and prodding by Fitz and Simmons then sat with her each night until she went to sleep. Afterward she would stumble into the next room and start scanning the computer for leads on the girl’s mother. Grant noticed how hard she was working and made it a point to be available when Skye left the girl’s room at night. He didn’t hover or try to start conversations, he was just there, awake, hanging around the galley or passing by so she would have someone to talk to if she needed it. Just being a good S.O. That’s all it was.

A couple of days later, Skye was just closing up the laptop as Ward and Coulson came in.

“Anything new?” Ward asked.

“I think I may have found something in the social services records but the document has been redacted.”

“Redacted?”

“By S.H.I.E.L.D.” She gave Coulson an accusing look which he returned with his usual mild expression.

May was walking by and she raised an eyebrow at Coulson but didn’t stop. Ward didn’t notice but Coulson said, “I’ll check and see what I can find.”

“I could do my own checking if…” Skye held up her hand.

“Not this time,” Coulson responded. “But you did good work here so maybe soon.”

He left and Ward gave Skye a rare smile. “You were very good with the kid.”

“Well, I know how it feels to be invisible.”

“I have some experience with that myself,” Ward said. He looked suddenly uncomfortable, as if he was afraid he’d said too much.

Skye picked up on it right away. “More of your mysterious past?”

“Not so mysterious, just nothing I want to talk about.”

Skye took the hint, though she wanted to press for more. Slowly, she reminded herself. Like with the girl. She had to cultivate that part of herself. Her impetuousness had gotten her in hot water; maybe it was time to try another approach.

“I just hope someone can find a solution for her so she doesn’t end up locked up in a vault for life. I told her I would help, but I don’t know if I did.” Skye changed the subject deftly, but Ward had his powers of observation too.

“Trust me, you did. Coulson will see that she’s taken care of and watched over, and that she’s free to live her life outside a government lock up. And you know, you taught me something with this case. Sometimes a lighter touch is best. We can get caught up in the work and miss that.”

“Thanks, that means a lot coming from you.” Skye nodded her recognition of the compliment.

In an uncharacteristic moment of tenderness he took her hand and looked into her eyes. A moment passed between them, but what it was exactly she wasn’t sure. She felt she must be blushing but hoped she wasn’t. Then he simply turned and walked away.

She looked down and the bracelet on her wrist was gone. Her phone beeped a text message which she scrambled to look at.

It said: “24 hours. Enjoy. G.”

With a broad smile, she flipped open her laptop.


End file.
